Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Disneyland needs more hotel rooms on-property, certainly. But, the guest experience at the Grand Californian is going to be seriously degraded by the addition of another wing.

The public spaces of the hotel are already crowded.

The parking is already inconvenient.

Guests will have to endure construction.

The resort is lacking a true spa; Mandara is not even close.

There is such a meager amount of land East of Disneyland Drive that any additional hospitality elements of Disneyland Resort should probably be kept on the West side.

An acquaintance of mine who provided consultancy services to help the company fix D.C.A. criticized the placement of the Grand Californian on the East side of the street. But, the resort is there, now. So, the south lawn of the hotel should be reserved for an expansion of the spa and/or an expansion of D.C.A. Additional hotel rooms and D.V.C. units can be placed on the West side of the street, and the parking can be moved to terraces and placed under the buildings.

An additional wing of the Grand Californian would be an inefficient use of space and might seriously inhibit D.C.A. from ever meeting its original projections since the park would be prevented from expanding in that direction.

Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

I have never liked the GCH because of the location. It is a beautiful hotel, but when I see the chunk of space it took away from DCA, it make me a little sad. Especially because it blocks in the best themed area in the entire park, preventing any real expansion. Right now they have room to build a nice darkride for either the Grizzly Creek area or the San Fransisco area, but instead they are expanding the hotel into that space. They keep saying they want to fix DCA, but it seems that they limit it more and more every chance they get. Closing in the borders with the GCH and a rumored resort where the Timon lot now stands? Have they learned nothing?

Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Disneyland needs more hotel rooms on-property, certainly. But, the guest experience at the Grand Californian is going to be seriously degraded by the addition of another wing.

The public spaces of the hotel are already crowded.

The parking is already inconvenient.

Guests will have to endure construction.

The resort is lacking a true spa; Mandara is not even close.

There is such a meager amount of land East of Disneyland Drive that any additional hospitality elements of Disneyland Resort should probably be kept on the West side.

An acquaintance of mine who provided consultancy services to help the company fix D.C.A. criticized the placement of the Grand Californian on the East side of the street. But, the resort is there, now. So, the south lawn of the hotel should be reserved for an expansion of the spa and/or an expansion of D.C.A. Additional hotel rooms and D.V.C. units can be placed on the West side of the street, and the parking can be moved to terraces and placed under the buildings.

An additional wing of the Grand Californian would be an inefficient use of space and might seriously inhibit D.C.A. from ever meeting its original projections since the park would be prevented from expanding in that direction.

I think you got it about right. While I'm happy that they will be expanding their best hotel at the resort, it is sad that it further boxes in DCA. But that land has been on Hotel grounds from day 1 and was always planned for an expansion.

What this expansion really does is take some of the pressures off of the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel for their transformations. Lots of changes coming to the hotels of the Disneyland resort. Most of it good.

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Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Whatever happened with the idea of incorporating DCA's expansion with the expansion of GCH? In other words, the first two or three floors would be for the theme park (dark ride/shops/eateries), and the upper floors for hotel rooms.

Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Originally Posted by BlueSkyDriveBy

Whatever happened with the idea of incorporating DCA's expansion with the expansion of GCH? In other words, the first two or three floors would be for the theme park (dark ride/shops/eateries), and the upper floors for hotel rooms.

Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Originally Posted by Dustysage

Lots of changes coming to the hotels of the Disneyland resort. Most of it good.

I can't wait for them to update the DL Hotel & the Paradise Pier Hotel. They always do great with any of their resort hotels, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with. It can only get better....

Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Originally Posted by BlueSkyDriveBy

Whatever happened with the idea of incorporating DCA's expansion with the expansion of GCH? In other words, the first two or three floors would be for the theme park (dark ride/shops/eateries), and the upper floors for hotel rooms.

Sounds like a decent compromise to me.

You should work as an Imagineer for these guys because thats the best idea I've heard in a while...

Current WDI Imagineer: "But we made great attractions like Pirates of the Carribean!!!"Cast Member: "No, WED made Pirates of the Caribbean, you guys made things like 'Spare Park' [DCA]"

Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Originally Posted by Pisces

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DCA should not be expanded. They need to perfect what they've already got with that.

What they got is a funky layout and no berm room due to the GCH and the new resort in Timon. The entire park is layed out like a dash ( / ). This makes it very difficult to design a layout that will flow for guests.

Second, without a berm, major attractions are less likely. Look at Disneyland. Almost every E-ticket runs the edge of the park. Space Mountain, Pirates, Mansion, Splash Mountain, and even Small World. Large immersive rides like these quire a big boxy show room, something DCA would have a hard time fitting into it's current borders. Sure, they could take out a Bug's Land and build a showroom there, but there are very few other out of the way areas they can destroy to turn into a giant building. The more of the borders they take away, the weaker the chances of DCA getting some quality Disneyland-esque rides.

Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Originally Posted by BlueSkyDriveBy

Whatever happened with the idea of incorporating DCA's expansion with the expansion of GCH? In other words, the first two or three floors would be for the theme park (dark ride/shops/eateries), and the upper floors for hotel rooms.

Re: Adding Rooms to the Grand Californian May Be a Bad Idea

Originally Posted by BlueSkyDriveBy

Whatever happened with the idea of incorporating DCA's expansion with the expansion of GCH? In other words, the first two or three floors would be for the theme park (dark ride/shops/eateries), and the upper floors for hotel rooms.

Sounds like a decent compromise to me.

This is the first I've heard of this idea, but I think it's brilliant. I love the idea of the hotel over the ride and shops.